Philip Rahv says relevance, not timeliness, is key to great fiction. Where is the fiction that is relevant to what is happening in Israel?
— D G Myers (@dg_myers) July 23, 2014
I have such respect for D.G. Myers. I’m so grateful that he launched this topic on Twitter today. And I’m going to share with you his subsequent tweets for your reference and edification (and for mine). (more…)
Just a few of the memorable–and important–lines that I’ve discovered over the past few days:
From David Horovitz:
“Just three days ago, my colleague Mitch Ginsburg wrote the following: ‘Haim Yellin, the head of the Eshkol Regional Council, told The Times of Israel, standing outside a tunnel discovered several months ago, that many residents in the region are so scarred by the prospect of a tunnel attack that they hear the phantom scratching of shovels when they close their eyes at night.’ Well, now we know that it was not the ‘phantom scratching of shovels’ they were hearing. It was the scratching of shovels.” (“Hushed, Determined Israel in a War ‘for Our Home,” The Times of Israel)
From Michael Oren:
“Unwittingly or not, the international media is complicit in Hamas’s plan. While some may think they help the Palestinians by highlighting their plight, in reality, the journalists only worsen it. They effectively absolve Hamas of culpability for using Gaza’s population as a human shield, of stealing its aid money to buy munitions and dig fortified tunnels with the sole purpose of killing Israelis, and of contributing nothing to Gaza’s welfare.” (“Hamas Media Strategy Relies on Death of Civilians,” CNN.com)
From Thane Rosenbaum:
“Surely there are civilians who have been killed in this conflict who have taken every step to distance themselves from this fast-moving war zone, and children whose parents are not card-carrying Hamas loyalists. These are the true innocents of Gaza. It is they for whom our sympathy should be reserved. The impossibility of identifying them, and saving them, is Israel’s deepest moral dilemma.” (“About Those ‘Innocent’ Palestinian Civilians,” The Wall Street Journal.)
From Fania Oz-Salzberger, the daughter of famed Israeli author Amos Oz:
2 rockets were intercepted this morning by Iron Dome more or less above my dad’s hospital bed. #Hamas would have loved to score this hit.
— Fania Oz-Salzberger (@faniaoz) July 20, 2014
And from Rabbi Eric Yoffie:
“The issue was never ‘proportionality’; it is the suffering and dying of too many Arabs and Jews. And while there is much that is complicated about the Middle East, ending the violence in Gaza is not complicated. Hamas needs to halt the missile attacks and provide credible assurances to Israel and the world that they will not be resumed. If the rockets stop, quiet can come tomorrow. And tomorrow is not soon enough.” (“The Bizarre Moral Criticism Against Israel,” Time.com)
Shabbat shalom.
This just in via email:
J, the weekly Jewish newspaper for the SF Bay Area, is seeking fiction by Northern California Jewish writers for its monthly Lit page. Work can be unpublished or recently published, short stories or novel excerpts. We can run 800 words in our print edition and an (optional) longer version of up to 3,000 words in our online edition. The work does not have to have a Jewish theme, although that is a plus. We are unfortunately not able to offer payment but will provide copies. Our readership is about 40,000. Our general web site is www.jweekly.com, and while we prepare for a much needed web site upgrade, past Lit selections can be found at http://jweeklylit.wordpress.com. To submit your work or get more information, email Ilana DeBare at debare(at)well(dot)com.
We also welcome poetry by Northern California Jewish writers. Send poems to poetry(at)jweekly(dot)com.
Reminder: You can find similar opportunities with other publications listed here.
In which Horovitz imagines an all-too-unlikely statement from the U.N. Security Council:
“Members of the United Nations Security Council commend Israel on the innovative technology behind the Iron Dome missile defense system, which is proving so mercifully successful in intercepting relentless rocket salvoes fired indiscriminately at Israel’s citizens from the Gaza Strip.
The Council recognizes with profound dismay that the approximately 1,000 rockets launched at Israel by Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Strip over the past seven days were designed to kill and maim the people of Israel, and to terrorize the entire nation, in pursuit of Hamas’s hideous stated goal of destroying Israel. Members of the Council shudder at the thought of the widespread loss of life and devastation these hundreds of rockets were intended to cause, and would have caused, in the absence of the Israeli missile defense system. The Council cautions that terrorist organizations in Gaza and elsewhere can be relied upon to seek new means to wreak such devastation upon Israel and its people, including by evading Iron Dome and other defenses, and offers any assistance Israel may need in continuing to thwart such pernicious efforts.”
Read the rest of this remarkable “Statement Not Issued by the U.N. Security Council”.